'Pak link' under probe by NIA
Jaipur/New Delhi: Investigators on Wednesday were looking into a possible link between one of the men who killed an Udaipur tailor and an Islamist outfit in Pakistan, as Rajasthan Police remained on vigil a day after the hate crime now being probed by the National Investigation Agency.
A policeman was slashed with a sword during a protest march in Rajsamand district's Bhim town, where police used tear gas to stop a stone-pelting mob from advancing towards a mosque.
In Udaipur, hundreds took part in a funeral procession for Kanhaiya Lal — the tailor who was attacked on Tuesday afternoon by two men who posted a video of the brutal attack with a cleaver on social media and claimed that they had avenged an insult to Islam.
Stones were hurled at a burial ground and some people tried to vandalise its gate as the procession passed by. Elsewhere in Rajasthan, markets were closed in Sojat (Pali), Bhinmal and Sanchore (Jalore) and Reodar (Sikar) in protest over the Udaipur murder.
Apart from the arrests of Riaz Akhtari, the man who hacked at the tailor's neck, and Ghouse Mohammad, who filmed the crime, police have detained three others allegedly involved in the attack.
Rajasthan Director General of Police (DGP) M L Lather said Ghouse has links with Karachi-based Dawat-e-Islami and had visited the Pakistani city in 2014.
When asked whether the other accused too had connections with the Islamist organisation, Lather said that cannot be ruled out.
In Delhi, an official said Akhtari's links have been traced to Dawat-e-Islami, which has its branches in India as well.
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team that had been rushed to Jaipur on Tuesday registered an FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Rajasthan Police will assist the NIA, the state police chief said.
The Centre and the state government have termed the Udaipur murder as a terror incident. The Union Home ministry tweeted on Wednesday that it has directed the NIA to take over the investigation. "The involvement of any organisation and international links will be thoroughly investigated," it said.
The autopsy report showed 26 injury marks, including those caused by a sharp-edged weapon, on the tailor's body, police sources said. Curfew imposed in seven police station areas in Udaipur continued in the morning but police allowed Kanhaiya Lal's funeral procession under a strict watch. People joined on motorcycles and in cars joined along the way to the Ashok Nagar cremation ground.
They shouted slogans like 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Kanhaiya Hum Sharminda Hain Tere Katil Jinda Hain' (Kanhaiya, we are ashamed your killers are alive).
Some people pelted stones and tried to vandalise the gate of a Muslim burial ground on the way, but police quickly brought the situation under control.
Kanhaiya Lal's wife Jasoda told reporters that he was scared and did not open his shop for six days due to the threat to his life. He was murdered as soon as he opened the shop, she said.
Officials said Kanhaiya Lal had told police in a written complaint that he faced a threat to life by some people who conducted a recce of his shop. In Rajsamand district's Bhim town there was a more serious confrontation, as a mob advanced towards a mosque. Police lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the stone-pelting crowd. A constable was injured when a man attacked him with a sword. The BJP launched a scathing attack against the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan over the murder, blaming the incident on its appeasement policy.
BJP spokesperson Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said the killing was not an isolated incident but a marked continuation of a series of crimes linked to religious bigotry. Not a week has gone by when some "jihadi" incident has not happened in the state, he told a press conference.
Hitting back, the Congress asserted that its government in the state was fully aware of its "Raj Dharma" and action would be taken in accordance with the law, irrespective of factors such as religion or caste. Congress media head Pawan Khera said: "With the atmosphere being vitiated in the entire country for the last two months, Ashok Gehlot has been urging Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah that they address the country, take steps to stop the spread of hatred in society and appeal for maintaining peace."
